Shannon Welby - Writer Biography
A screenwriter from Donegal, Shannon left her full-time job and moved to the real-life remote Irish island to fully immerse in and write her comedy-drama TV series The Kin of Tory Island.
Shannon has a First Class Honours MA in Screenwriting at National Film School IADT and her accolades to date include progressing to top 26% of 1750 scripts for BBC Studios Writers' Academy 2022, selection for Screen Ireland's Spotlight TV Comedy 2022, Final 30 for Virgin Media Discovers 2022, selection for X-Pollinator Development Lab, Best Screenplay Award Finalist at Catalyst International Film Festival.. etc.
Shannon is currently writing on a Warner Media animated comedy series and has two short films, the latest set on Tory Island releasing this year. Shannon has +5 years' experience in the film & entertainment industry with Disney Ireland, Paramount Pictures France, Paramount Pictures Ireland, Dublin International Film Festival and Eclipse Pictures.
The Kin of Tory Island - Short Synopsis
An eight-part fictional comedy-drama TV series set on the real-life remote Irish island, which has a real-life King, The Kin of Tory Island is inspired by the experiences of its writer.
After 24 years of turbulence, broke and biracial Ivy only knows her estranged father as a name on her birth cert and a man who lives on the most remote inhabited island of Ireland. When she discovers that he has passed away, Ivy makes the strenuous journey to Tory to claim inheritance.
On Tory Island, with 140 inhabitants, many share the same names and surnames. This causes a mix up and Ivy discovers that her father is not dead. Ivy is horrified to have to face her real-life father - who is alive, and is the island’s King.
Yes, a real-life King who represents the island - but with less jewels and colonialism.
One shop, one church, one pub, no police - Tory is a world of its own with a tight-knit community.
After Ivy hears the agreeable wage, she lies about her qualifications and gets an English teaching job in the island’s school… with seven students. Things prove tricky when one of her students is already a drinking buddy, and Ivy must navigate Shakespeare and responsibility. Ivy is an untamed fish-out-of-water clashing with her father’s conservative community, yet still finds bonds such as with the charming - and married - bar owner.
The Kin of Tory Island is an honest portrayal of a female protagonist who has zero sense of family. As a result, she has a fear of deep connections and chaotic methods of survival.
On the island, for the first time in her life, Ivy can’t run from her issues - but she might just find the unconventional sense of family she needs in this bat-shit island community off the coast of Donegal.